The War in Words: Union and Confederate Civil War Military Camp Newspapers in Western Virginia Stewart Plein Surviving issues of Civil War military camp newspapers are few and far between, but the news they printed is still valuable to us today. As troops entered a town, if there were newspapermen among the regiment—and from the number and variety of papers printed there often were1—they took it upon themselves to take over the local press and use it to print their own newspaper.2 The press may have been abandoned by fleeing residents, it may have been confiscated by troops,3 or the unit may have carried a portable press,4 but in any case, the rare survivors of Civil War news often reflect the movement of troops, the availability of soldiers skilled as newspapermen, and the proximity of a usable press. A Union soldier once asked, “Does not a newspaper follow a Yankee march everywhere?”5 It certainly seemed that way. More than fifteen Civil War military camp newspapers were published on confiscated presses for army units on active duty in western Virginia. The names of these regimental publications point to their loyalties: the American Union, the Yankee, the Knapsack, the Old Flag, and the Wandering Soldier, all Union newspapers. The only Confederate military camp newspaper printed in what became West Virginia was the Guerilla. Military camp newspapers are invaluable for several reasons. They document the movement of both Union and Confederate troops within western Virginia, the struggle of the western counties for independence from Virginia, and the constant need to support and bolster troop morale. Though a number of camp newspapers were printed in various locations throughout the war, they were never common. The few copies that survive are extremely valuable for their reports of daily camp life, including religious meetings and other popular forms of entertainment enjoyed by soldiers in camp, as well as battle reports, politics, and local news. A rarely examined primary resource, camp newspapers recorded the events of the Civil War and the daily lives of soldiers in their own words. As far back as the 1930s, some scholars began to look at “soldier” newspapers, 17 Stewart Plein examining them for their ingenuity and their records of soldiers’ experiences in battle and at rest. Over the years, the few scholars who have worked diligently to study camp newspapers have also sought to record a list of the papers extant throughout the United States. These scholarly efforts have located approximately three hundred camp papers; unfortunately, these lists have been lost, are unknown, or have not been located. Only one list remains extant,6 and it provides a valuable resource for the number and variety of surviving examples of soldier newspapers. This article looks at the surviving issues of two Civil War military camp newspapers that were published by occupation forces in western Virginia. Two camp newspapers—one Union and one Confederate—are among the survivors of western Virginia campaigns that were printed by successive occupying forces in Charleston, Virginia (West Virginia after 1863). Both newspapers reveal the life of citizens and soldiers under occupation. The Guerilla, a Confederate newspaper published by the Associate Printers of the Confederate Army, and the Knapsack, a Union newspaper published by the 5th Virginia Volunteer Infantry.7 Both publications continued the battle, not just on the field, but also on the printed page. The Battle for Charleston In the heat of late August 1862, a daring and wildly successful Confederate raid on the Union supply depot at Catlett’s Station in northern Virginia earned the Confederacy a handful of Federal troops as prisoners and a supply cache. This raid proved most embarrassing for Union Maj. Gen. John Pope because the most important item captured during the raid was one that would give the Confederacy an unexpected insight into the Union’s upcoming movements: his personal dispatch book. While the loss of his uniform, horses, and money was embarrassing enough, the loss of the Union Maj. Gen. John Pope (West dispatch book meant that Rebel forces Virginia and Regional History Center, now controlled what Pope described West Virginia University Libraries). in his report as “information of great importance.”8 18 Union and Confederate Civil War Military Camp Newspapers in Western Virginia The Kanawha Valley (Library of Congress). After Confederate Secretary of War George Randolph learned of the captured prize, he alerted Maj. Gen. William Wing Loring, advising him that Pope’s captured dispatch book revealed Union plans, including the North’s imminent departure from the Kanawha Valley (see map above). Randolph devised a plan to send Loring to “[c]lear the valley of the Kanawha and operate northwardly to a junction with our army in the valley.”9 Under this order, Loring led five thousand men—among them many soldiers with ties to western Virginia—from Giles County Court House in Pearisburg, Virginia, into the Kanawha Valley and headed toward Charleston. Col. Joseph Andrew Jackson Lightburn, commander of the 4th Brigade holding the Kanawha Valley, was warned by Gen. H. W. Halleck on September 8 of the approaching forces and advised to retreat if necessary. The Confederate forces quickly advanced, successfully routing Federal troops at Fayette Court House on September 11 and then continuing toward Charleston. Once there, the Confederates engaged Colonel Lightburn’s troops, who had been camped at Gauley Bridge, a Union stronghold approximately forty miles upriver from Charleston. Before the engagement, 19 Stewart Plein Lightburn encouraged Unionist citizens to flee the area in expectation of the coming contest. The fighting, much of which took place within the city itself, is now known as the Battle of Charleston.10 Lightburn was forced to retreat, and much of the downtown area was burned when Confederates fired hot projectiles that ignited whatever they hit.11 Lightburn, who grew up with Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson in Lewis County,12 now handed control of his home region to General Loring’s forces. Loring now occupied Charleston and his control of the area stretched across the Kanawha Valley. Confederate Occupation The Confederates’ Newspaper Once Confederates settled into the occupation, they soon requisitioned the printing office of the Kanawha Valley Star, a weekly newspaper, and printed, as their first order of business, a proclamation. Printed in the form of a broadside and signed by Loring, this proclamation informed the residents of Charleston that they would receive no threat from the occupation forces unless they continued to support the restored government in Wheeling, Virginia (West Virginia the following year).13 This proclamation established the Guerilla’s goals: keeping Charleston citizens informed for the duration and promoting the occupying forces as liberators rather than occupiers. The newspaper sold for ten cents a copy or fifty cents a week. The edition (volume 1, number 2,) pictured on page 26, is dated September 29, 1862. A single sheet of paper, twelve inches by eighteen inches, folded once, provided four pages for news. While Union camp papers gave publication credit to the regiment, the Guerilla credited its publication to the Associate Printers, most likely an early forerunner of the Press Association of the Confederate States of America, a cooperative news agency whose task was to gather and disseminate news concerning Confederate interests to both town and camp newspapers. The contents of the Guerilla for the September 29, 1862, issue included what would have been standard fare for camp newspapers, whether Union or Confederate: a heartbreaking poem on soldier life; the disclosure of the failure of the news to arrive via the subscribed service, either the Associated Press,14 often relied upon by the Union, or the Confederate Associate Printers15 (as stated by the Guerilla: “owing to the non-arrival of the mail, up to the hour of going to press, we are without the latest Eastern news”); politics; general orders; and reports from the field. Specifically, this issue contained news related to the Confederate occupation forces, including a 20 Union and Confederate Civil War Military Camp Newspapers in Western Virginia morale-boosting16 notice of the successful occupation of Charleston and the Kanawha Valley. The paper proclaimed, The North seems fully aware of the great loss they have sustained in having to give up the Kanawha, and are free to acknowledge the great importance of its acquisition to our cause. They are bitter against their government for having withdrawn the troops, and acknowledge that we have destroyed in a week what took millions of money and an army of fifteen or twenty thousand men fifteen months to accomplish. They seem to have no hopes of attempting to retake it this season, at least, as they are now in need of every available man in Kentucky and Maryland; but, let them come when and in what force they please, we have no fears but that they would be made to reenact in full style the Lightburn double quick.17 Additional news included the announcement of a meeting to establish a fair price for salt; a notice of soldiers’ deaths in the September 10 battle at Fayette(ville), Virginia; documentation of the names of those lost in the battle; and a statement that death notices would be sent to Richmond for publication. Other war-related news included an announcement that Thomas Morris had been appointed brigadier general in the Confederate Army and would preside over western Virginia, as well as general orders issued by Loring and others. The basic outline of the Confederate occupation agenda can also be determined from the Guerilla’s pages. That agenda consisted of three major goals: claiming territory, assuring local businesses that Confederate money was good,18 and encouraging Unionists to defect to the Confederate cause.